


Taking Steps, Swallowing Stones

by periwinklepromise



Series: WinterIron Week 2019 [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Identity Porn, M/M, Pepper Potts as Rescue, Pre-Slash, Secret Identity, but not identity reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 11:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20007502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepromise/pseuds/periwinklepromise
Summary: Bucky is a fan of the team's primary benefactor Tony Stark, even if he is a little standoffish.





	Taking Steps, Swallowing Stones

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written Identity Porn before, and tbh, it was pretty hard to write. But I did my best!
> 
> (...Okay, this could have used a little more work, but I ran out of time. Same diff)

“So … this is where the magic happens?” Bucky looked around the lab of their benefactor. His name was Tony Stark, son and heir of Howard Stark, and he provided for everything the team ever needed. The man was richer than God but far more generous.

“Yup!” Stark agreed with a cheery smile. “All the specialized defensive gear, the helicarrier, some of the tech for your arm.”

Bucky flexed the metal arm automatically. It was more comfortable now, physically and emotionally, but it still felt weird to have attention brought to it. “And the suits?”

“Those too,” Stark confirmed easily. “Iron Man, Iron Patriot, Rescue, all of the back-up models for the suits.”

Bucky blinked in surprise. He'd only heard of Iron Man so far. He whistled, seriously impressed with the genius. “You must work non-stop.”

Stark brightened, but it seemed a little forced. “Pretty much!”

Bucky excused himself then, to give Stark more time to work. Apparently, he needed it. And Bucky needed to visit the rest of the Tower.

*

There was an absolute horde of decoys, and every single one he took out was time wasted, because more just kept coming. 

“We need backup,” he ground out, and the agreement was in full stereo, with various amounts of cursing, but there was nothing any of them could do about that. They'd put in a call for air support, but Sam was out of town, so they knew not to hold their breath for it.

“Never fear, the suits are here,” crackled Iron Man over the comms.

“Thank fuck,” he growled out, dismantling another decoy. He really did prefer being a sniper, but they'd decided he'd be a bigger help on Cap's six.

He could practically _hear_ the grin coming from Iron Man. “Nice to know you care, Soldier.”

“Shut it, you two. Sitrep?” Iron Patriot asked, head always in the fight. Cap informed the flying crew of the specifics, and the fight turned in their favor.

Afterwards, they all crashed a pizza joint and ate half their stock. Most of the ground crew was there, plus Pepper Potts, who was Rescue. The other two hadn't unmasked for the rest of them, and the team had a policy to not push. But it was understood that Pepper knew the both of them – it would be hard to not know, all of them rushing to get into the suits, all of them returning the suits to Stark for maintenance. 

It would be a total invasion of privacy to ask. Bucky knew that.

It didn't stop him from wanting to ask anyway.

*

“Dr Stark?” Bucky poked his head into the lab, looking around for the slight man.

“Only my enemies call me Dr Stark. Because I make them. You can call me Tony.”

“Tony,” he tested out on his tongue. It held a much lighter mouthfeel than formality. Like sparkling wine.

“You need me for something? Arm malfunctioning?” Tony asked in concern.

“No, no, everything's fine. I just wanted to say hello.”

“Hello?” Tony seemed confused. 

Maybe he'd interrupted something important. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you. I'll be going now.”

“No! No, it's fine. You can come in. I was just … taking a break anyway.” Tony turned away from his lab table, covered with little bits of metal and shining blue images, and even silenced the dozen screens relaying him information. “Would you like a smoothie?”

“Um. Sure. Thank you.” Bucky followed him a few paces back to the kitchenette, which at first glance seemed to be a glorified beverage bar – Tony had the materials to craft a great coffee or smoothie, but not much else. “You know, I'm not sure this covers all the food groups.”

“How do you even know about all the food groups? Were people aware of those in the 1800s?”

“Bruce caught me up to speed,” Bucky sniffed as haughtily as he could. “After he caught me eating about half a cow and absolutely no vegetables.” Tony wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Plants aren't filling!” he defended himself, plucking a plum out of his pocket and taking a bite. “But I do like some, so I carry around the ones I can eat raw.”

“I swear to every electromagnetic force on this planet, if you ever fish out an onion and chomp on it whole, you will be evicted from my Tower for life,” Tony warned him, and he didn't look like he was joking.

“Noted.”

*

Bucky burst into the lab to find Tony. “Hey, Tony, I was thinking- oh!” Bucky's eyes felt stretched too wide, but he couldn't find the strength to blink.

Tony was in the Iron Man suit of armor, all suited up save the helmet, flexing in a suit of armor that was clearly tailored specifically to him. 

“This isn't what it looks like!” Tony assured him.

“What does it look like?”

Tony huffed, and some sort of pedestal he was standing on started whirring and spinning, peeling off pieces of the armor. “I know it _looks_ like I could be the pilot but-”

“But?” Bucky echoed.

“But I'm just the maintenance guy. Everyone knows that.” Tony stepped off, his hands stretched out in care.

Bucky smiled sadly. “Everyone knew that I was dead, too.” Tony had to lie to him, and that was okay. He had his reasons. Secret identities were often necessary to this work. Bucky could understand wanting to keep those two aspects separate; he would have, if that had been an option for him. “But I believe you.”

Tony looked damn shocked. “You do? I mean – you do! Good! Uh, you should. Because, it's the truth!”

“Yeah. It's the truth.” Bucky nodded solemnly.

“You, uh, wanted something?” 

Bucky shrugged. “There's a movie night later. I know it's really just for the team, but you're part of us. As the maintenance guy, I mean. So I wanted you to know you're welcome.”

“Uh. Thanks. I'll, uh, try to make it then.”

Bucky beamed up at him. “See you then.”

It was a great first step. Tony would tell him when he was ready.


End file.
